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Dawn Of A New Power
Conference of Prague (POD) At the beginning of the Conference of Prague (March 1867), Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I announces his firm intention of abdicate the Crown in favor of his only son Prince Rudolf (future Rudolf III), who is eight years old at that moment, regardless the outcome of the conference. The delegation of the Kingdom of Prussia, as the main winner side, only demands, besides the usual reparations, the concession of the Lands of Bohemia (Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia), which were in fact occupied by Prussian troops at that time. The intention of the Prussians is setting a puppet state, ruled by a German prince, which would be integrated in the planned North German Confederation, set to succeed the defunct German Confederation. However, the Russians oppose such move unless the whole territory of Galicia is conceded to them, Cracow included. Neither Prussia nor Austria want to approve such concession, so they finally agree with Russia a more Solomonic decision: the new Principality of Bohemia and Moravia will be an Austrian subject under the authority of the King of Austria, but also a member state of the North German Confederation, granting that the state will be ‘co-ruled’ de facto by Prussia and Austria; in the other hand, Galicia will be divided in four parts: the duchy of Cracow, as a separate Austrian subject; the northern districts, including Lemberg, will be conceded to Russia; the southern districts will be ceded to Hungary and Bukovina and the surrounding districts will be ceded to (still Turkish) Moldavia. Meanwhile, the Hungarian magnates push hard for the recognition of the Kingdom of Hungary as a fully independent state. They have even agreed on the candidate for the throne, count Laszló Teleki de Szék; after a harsh process of negotiations, the Kingdom of Hungary is recognized by the European powers, but under several conditions: · Hungary has to cede the Western Strip (an area populated by ethnic Germans, including cities like Pressburg, Ödenburg and Stein am Anger) to Austria. As compensation, Hungary receives the southern Galician districts. · Hungary has to grant self-government for the Transylvanian Saxons in its written Constitution. · Hungary has to recognize the independence of the Kingdom of Croatia. · Hungary should follow a neutral foreign policy, which will be observed by all the powers present at the Conference. The conference ends on a note that this new German Federation is to unite into a nation at some point in the near future. Franco-Prussian War: Start Of The German Empire Background By 1870 the idea of a united Germany had gained a huge amount of traction, and the only way to unite Germany in the eyes of most was to acquire Alsace-Lorraine, a historic province of the HRE, and add it to the new proposed nation. France had recently reformed into a monarchy, with Napoleon III being the current Monarch. The French wanted to add some areas of the Rhineland to their nation. Tensions over the area would build for half a year before France decided to declare war. War On 16 July 1870, the French parliament voted to declare war on the German Kingdom of Prussia and hostilities began three days later. The German coalition mobilised its troops much more quickly than the French and rapidly invaded northeastern France. The German forces were superior in numbers, had better training and leadership and made more effective use of modern technology, particularly railroads and artillery. By the time August had come the French realized the blunder they had put themselves into and tried to play a defensive role, but with increasing German numbers due to Austrian reinforcements things were looking down for France. A series of swift Prussian and German (including large numbers of Austrians) victories in eastern France, culminating in the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, saw Napoleon III captured and the army of the Second Empire decisively defeated. A Government of National Defence declared the Third Republic in Paris on 4 November and surrendered to the Prussian-German forces, although news traveled slowly and some forces fought until December, before treaties could be signed; the German forces fought and defeated new French armies in northern France before the news reached them, further lowering French morale. Following the Siege of Paris which occured before news of a formal French surrender arrived to German forces, a revolutionary uprising called the Paris Commune seized power in the capital and held it for two months, until it was bloodily suppressed by the regular French army at the end of May 1871. Unification of Germany The Unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France. Princes of the German states, including Austria, gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor of the Northern Germans (all of Germany excluding Austria and shared ownership of Bohemia-Moravia) and Rudolf III as German Emperor of the Southern Germans (Austria and shared ownership of Bohemia-Moravia) after the French capitulation in the Franco-Prussian War. Unofficially, the de facto transition of most of the German-speaking populations into a federated organization of states had been developing for some time through alliances formal and informal between princely rulers—but in fits and starts; self-interests of the various parties hampered the process over nearly a century of autocratic experimentation, beginning in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, which saw the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (1806), and the subsequent rise of German nationalism. The Structure of Germany after unification The structure of Germany after unification somewhat mimicked the old Dual Monarchy system of Austria-Hungary; Wilhelm I would be the Monarch of most of the nation, but excluding Austria, and Rudolf III would become monarch of Austria. Prague, Bohemia-Moravia (Bohemia-Moravia being the only area where there is a true Dual Monarchy) becomes the meeting zone for the two monarchs to discuss the nation's functioning. A system is also adopted where there is a chancellor who handles communication between the 2 German regions and their respective monarchs. The first chancellor of Germany is Otto von Bismark. Die tapferen Bayern is made the official anthem of the German Empire (although renamed Die tapferen Deutschland for obvious reasons). Dawn Of A New Power Congress of Berlin The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a meeting of the representatives of five Great powers of the time (Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany), the Ottoman Empire and four Balkan states (Greece, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro), aiming at determining the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. The Congress came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, which replaced the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano signed three months earlier between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, who were backed by Hungary. Treaty of Berlin The treaty formally recognized the independence of the de facto sovereign principalities of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, together with the autonomy of Bulgaria – though the latter de facto functioned independently and was divided into three parts: the Principality of Bulgaria, the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia, and Macedonia, which was given back to the Ottomans, thus undoing Russian plans for an independent—and Russophile—"Greater Bulgaria". The Treaty of San Stefano had created a Bulgarian state, which was just what Great Britain and Germany feared most. The Treaty of Berlin confirmed most of the Russian gains from the Ottoman Empire specified in the Treaty of San Stefano, although the valley of Alashkerd and the town of Bayazidwere returned to the Ottomans. Despite the pleas of the Romanian delegates, Romania was forced to cede southern Bessarabia to the Russian Empire. As a compensation, Romania received Dobruja, including the Danube Delta. The treaty also limited the Russian occupation of Bulgaria to 9 months, which limited the time during which Russian troops and supplies could be moved through Romanian territory. The three newly independent states subsequently proclaimed themselves kingdoms: Romania in 1881, Serbia in 1882 and Montenegro in 1910, while Bulgaria proclaimed full independence in 1908 after uniting with Eastern Rumelia in 1885. Germany annexed Croatia and Bosnia from the Hungarians and Ottomans after the brief''' Southern War''' of 1908, sparking a major European crisis. The Treaty of Berlin accorded special legal status to some religious groups; it also served as a model for the Minorities System that was subsequently established within the framework of the League of Nations. It stipulated that Romania recognize non-Christians (Jews and Muslims) as full citizens. It also vaguely called for a border rectification between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which occurred after protracted negotiations in 1881 with the transfer of Thessaly to Greece. In the "Salisbury Circular" of 1 April 1878, British Foreign Secretary, the Marquess of Salisbury, made clear his own and his government's objections to the Treaty of San Stefano and the favourable position in which it left Russia. Historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote: "If the treaty of San Stefano had been maintained, the Ottoman Empire might have survived to the present day. The British, except for Beaconsfield in his wilder moments, had expected less and were, therefore, less disappointed. Salisbury wrote at the end of 1878: "We shall set up a rickety sort of Turkish rule again south of the Balkans. But it is a mere respite. There is no vitality left in them." The Kosovo Vilayet remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Germany was allowed to station military garrisons in the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia and Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Vilayet of Bosnia was placed under German occupation, though formally remaining a part of the Ottoman Empire until being annexed by Germany in 1908. The German garrisons in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar were withdrawn in 1908, following the annexation of the Vilayet of Bosnia and the resulting Bosnian crisis, in order to reach a compromise with the Ottoman Empire (the Ottoman government was struggling with internal strife due to the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, which also paved the way for the loss of Bosnia and loss of Bulgaria in the same year.) To Be Continued Category:Dawn Of A New Power Category:Timelines Category:Timeline Category:Austria Category:Hungary Category:Prussia